Chapter 534

Some things seem weightless until placed on a scale, then they outweigh a thousand jin.

Many found it strange to see Guan Hu bowing with hands behind his back before the memorial.

You've made films of this type already—why insist on sending ambiguous signals? It just feels contrived.

Isn't it uncomfortable not to sneak in some private agenda like this?

Yanzi and Xiao Shui directly tore off the veil of pretense.

Why must they do this?

Because people in that circle are watching him!

He's one of them—his early success and fame were entirely built on that circle's backing; he's a senior figure by seniority, and no doubt has often advised others on how to maintain "independent thought."

Then one day, an irrefusable reason forced him to betray the circle's consensus and publicly take a stance on something—it truly put him in a bind.

What could he do?

So he bowed from the waist up, "The martyrs shall live forever"; while his lower half kept hands behind his back, "I'm just teasing them."

Frontal deference, rear disdain; outward compliance, inner defiance.

From this perspective, it's indeed hard on the guy.

No wonder he's the same guy who, when making "Old Beast," praised Wu Youfan as: "He's different from other boys his age because of his overseas upbringing—I think he's especially pure, his eyes are full of innocence."

In a more exaggerated phrase, "artists" seem to all like this: kneeling before conquest, yet waving fists.

But he's also lucky enough to have caught the right moment.

From the pandemic era to the post-pandemic future, this is precisely the period when the Chinese public's attention to cultural confidence has steadily risen, while their distrust of cultural elites has deepened.

Public intellectuals and big V's have fallen from their pedestals, even becoming public enemies.

Things that used to be easily swept under the rug can no longer be ignored—no longer must they be wildly escalated, but at the very least, he won't get off easy.

Speaking of which, this type of person does have one trait that's rather… stubborn: sheer obstinacy.

You think he's hypocritical—he thinks he's being authentic.

Ultimately, it's his ingrained class consciousness and aristocratic sense of superiority at work.

Of course, he likely won't admit to feeling this way.

He'd at most call it the spirit of Sixth Uncle from his childhood memories.

And so, the digging continues—this time it's not "The Sacrifice," but the main target: "The Eight Hundred."

His photo with the son of the fleeing general was also dug up.

To be honest, Yanzi previously thought Xiao Shui's claim that he had a crooked butt was exaggerated—but now, it's clear: he's not just got a crooked butt, half his ass is hanging out.

Hey man, I dug up some dirt on you—and you actually have it?!

"You guys can't accidentally kill this movie, right?" Bai Liang asked curiously, idly following the gossip.

He truly hadn't expected these two girls to stir up such a storm.

Now Guan Hu is being publicly posted online for everyone to roast.

"Not that bad—if this film really flops or something, Huayi would hang itself from the southeast corner. They'll still consider the impact, won't let it spiral too far—tops, it'll just be half-dead." Xiao Shui spoke with experience.

"You two are quite kind," Bai Liang remarked.

Kind?

Xiao Shui didn't understand the remark, but Yanzi instantly got it, stifling a laugh: "My little Bai is still thinking about drowning their company's money tree~"

"How is he still this childish at twenty-seven or twenty-eight?" Xiao Shui exclaimed in disbelief.

Yanzi paused, then suddenly realized: maybe Little Bai wasn't joking or being childish.

He genuinely believes drowning their company's money tree will work.

Superstition? To others, it's just feudal nonsense—a joke.

But with Little Bai? Maybe it's serious.

After all, to be honest, Bai Liang actually has some grudge against that circle—back then, that Yin-Yang contract wasn't meant as a joke.

Though that incident was quietly buried due to some "small accidents," and Fan Fan Bingbing later suddenly imploded, covering it all up.

But grudges remain grudges—Yanzi's sudden heavy strike isn't just about competition.

After all, the resources and energy invested don't even qualify as harming others for personal gain.

The box office boost isn't worth it at all.

But Yanzi just wants to vent for her little Bai!

Retribution doesn't come early—it comes when the time is right.

You think you've got the upper hand, trying to drag us down?

But Bai Liang himself has no obsession over this—he's absurdly lazy in some ways, even in flirting he's passive; if someone provokes him, he usually doesn't care.

If not for this incident reminding him, he'd probably have forgotten it entirely.

He called them "kind" because if he'd truly sent someone to drown their money tree, the fallout might've been far worse than this.

Good luck laughs and jokes around; strong luck never jokes with you.

Fortunately, Bai Da withdrew his "no beef" comment, letting Yanzi and the others play on their own~

Just then, his father suddenly called.

"Son, the game trailer drops tonight—remember to watch."

"Moved up?" Bai Liang asked, puzzled.

He'd been busy lately and hadn't paid attention to the game.

After all, AAA games drag on forever—keeping tabs on them is exhausting.

"Yeah, you've been pretty active lately, so we released it early to boost the mood—also, a little free publicity from your heat."

Hearing this, Bai Liang thought: who's really riding whose coattails?

He had originally thought the first trailer wouldn't include any scenes of Yang Jian, whose face and voice he provided, but from his father's tone, it might actually be in there.

Now he was genuinely interested.

If it really looked convincing, he wanted to experience what it felt like to control a monkey fighting himself in the game.

By then, he might end up leading the pressure to rush production.

The news was also sent to the other girls who provided their faces; even if they likely wouldn't appear in the first trailer, it didn't dampen their excitement or curiosity.

We've been on the TV drama so long, but we've never acted in a game before~

"It won't turn out like 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' right? That movie had kind of a game CG feel."

"Meng Jie, you're done—I screenshot that. You actually compared this to 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes.'"

The evil little kitten never missed a chance to do this, perfectly catching Meng Jie's slip-up.

But Meng Jie declared she was no longer the same person as before, and immediately went all out on Li Yitong: "Tongtong! If you keep this up, I'll kick you out!"

"Wow~ Meng Jie's really come alive—so fierce and powerful! I support kicking out this evil little kitten, she's too much trouble~" "Kick her out +1, she's really bad now, scheming against everyone every day."

"I agree—it's too much to screenshot like that."

"."

Facing the united condemnation of her sisters, the evil little kitten wasn't the least bit afraid.

Come on! Fight me!

Could she possibly fear these pitiful amateurs?

She might as well use her sisters to practice—after all, she'd prepared mentally to face off against those two new recruits!

Of course, she couldn't do it alone, but with Xiao Tian, it'd be no problem.

She went wild in the group chat, one-on-four—well, one-on-three-and-a-half, since Chen Yao always slacked off.

Still, she held her own completely.

This was partly because Jin Da Xi hadn't gone all out on her—after all, if Jin Da Xi unleashed the same verbal fury she used against Zhang Tian'ai on the whole group, she'd probably scold them so brutally they'd be left utterly shattered.

But that kind of full-on, no-holds-barred attack wouldn't work in the group's playful, joking atmosphere.

Still, everyone could see it: this evil little kitten was now so proactive and aggressively combative—clearly trying to get a seat at the table!

But strangely, no one pointed it out.

Unlike before, when the group sisters talked about everything, now everyone was hiding and holding back.

Even Meng Jie was the same!

She wouldn't tell anyone that next year after the New Year, she'd be appearing on a variety show: "Fifty Kilometers to Peach Blossom Valley."

The show was produced by Tencent, a reality program about communal living.

The format invited fifteen celebrities to Peach Blossom Valley, fifty kilometers from Yanjing's city center, to live together for twenty-one days, experience communal life, showcase contemporary urban communal living, and explore the possibilities of a new kind of beautiful communal lifestyle near the city.

Of course, none of that really mattered.

What mattered was that Meng Jiezheng was now plotting to secure Bai Liang's schedule!

When she received the invitation, her first question was about the other guests.

Logically, although Meng Jiezheng's status was far better than in the original timeline, she clearly hadn't reached the level to decide who Tencent invited as guests.

But the Tencent Video team treated Meng Jiezheng with great respect.

Not because of her "Meng Jie" reputation, but because they had no choice.

She immediately asked: "Will Bai Liang come? Did you invite him? Can you invite him?"

Who? Bai Liang?!

Those two words instantly unlocked the production team's meridians—their gaze toward Meng Jiezheng turned downright "affectionate."

This can happen! We want this too!

The production team enthusiastically pulled Meng Jiezheng into a long discussion, then used her as leverage to talk to Sister Yanzi about it.

Sister Yanzi, however, was indifferent—filming time for the show conveniently coincided with the end of Bai Liang's shoot for "The Battle at Lake Changjin."

And Meng Jie? Well, she deserved some face.

Others thought Meng Jie was a minor player, but Sister Yanzi didn't think so.

She even knew Meng Jiezheng was Bai Liang's first girlfriend in the entertainment industry—and possibly his only one.

There was no way around it: with Bai Liang's behavior and style, no girl had ever been given the title of "girlfriend."

Not even Zha and Reba.

They'd collided early on, but neither had ever asked Bai Liang for that status.

Still, both had set their sights on an even more direct role.

In short, Sister Yanzi knew exactly how special Meng Jiezheng was.

But she didn't immediately agree—after all, personal favors were personal favors, business was business.

She needed to see what conditions "Fifty Kilometers to Peach Blossom Valley" offered.

To Meng Jiezheng herself, she said: "Aren't you also going to appear in 'The Battle at Lake Changjin'? Go beg Bai Liang in person—he says yes, I've got no problem."

This was just to pacify Meng Jiezheng; by then, the show's conditions would likely be settled.

But Meng Jiezheng truly took it to heart, feeling this was her one chance.

Even though her role in "The Battle at Lake Changjin" was just a cameo, she'd still get to spend a few days with Bai Liang.

She'd been thinking hard lately about how to beg him sweetly~

This was the biggest thing she'd been pondering lately!

Crucially, she hadn't leaked a single word about it in the group~

In the past, she'd have been unable to resist boasting about it.

But she wasn't that twenty-something girl anymore—in a few months, she'd be twenty-five, a proper grown woman.

Her scheming may not have fully caught up yet, but in certain respects she's already managed to rein in her tongue a little.

Of course, most of the time she still can't hold it in.

God knows how many times she nearly let it slip in the group chat—several times she'd already typed the words, then sensed something was off and hurriedly deleted them.

Being able to do this isn't because Meng Jie is all that remarkable herself.

It's simply that her sisters are far too scheming!

Especially that wicked little kitty.

If she got wind of this, she'd probably come sniffing over the moment she caught the scent.

The one thing the group has been most united on lately is that Li Yitong's table manners are just too ugly! She wants to lick everything twice!

This was exposed in the group by Li Xin, who rattled off every dirty little secret of that wicked little kitty.

But Li Yitong immediately fired back, revealing that she had actually set her sights on Bai Lu's project too—telling everyone not to be fooled, that woman was no good person at all.

Recently the two of them have been pouring everything into the "Glory of the Police" project, and adding Bai Lu into the mix, the three of them have nearly beaten each other's brains out behind the scenes.

But it'll probably still take some time before a winner emerges—each of the three has her own advantage.

Bai Lu is younger, which fits the character better.

Li Yitong's fee is low, great value for money.

Li Xin has plenty of acting experience and a solid foundation.

The three-way battle is far from over.

But because the three of them are fighting so fiercely, it's also had the effect of clearing the field.

Other female artists who had originally wanted to try clinging to Bai Liang's thigh, or get in touch with him through this drama, took one look at the scene and simply backed off three houses down.

In short, in this group now, everyone has their own little secret dealings behind the scenes. Each one is hiding and holding things close—unless they run head-on into each other, their secrecy is impeccable.

At the same time, they never forget to roast and despise one another. The atmosphere is already completely different from the beginning.

It seems every little sisterhood in the entertainment circle goes through this kind of cycle.

From being inseparable at the start, to gradually growing guarded against or drifting apart from one another for all sorts of reasons later on.

When it comes to this, Big Mi Mi has plenty of experience!

(End of Chapter)